Why does the sky turn red at sunset?

The sunset sky turns red and orange due to the scattering of light in the atmosphere.

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The earth's atmosphere contains many small particles such as dust, ash, pollen, gases and water vapor, components in this atmosphere that will reflect and scatter sunlight in different directions before to the human eye.

Picture 1 of Why does the sky turn red at sunset?
The sky turns red and orange at sunset.(Photo: Timm Jensen)

During the time when the sun is in the lower part of the horizon, the distance that the sun's rays must penetrate through the atmosphere is 30% longer than the day. Short wavelengths of light such as violet and blue are scattered a lot, only the longer wavelengths of light such as yellow, orange, and red are less scattering to be transmitted to the observer's eye (red color has the longest wavelength in the visible spectrum). So when the sun rises and sets, the sky appears red and orange , MNN said.

Sunlight is a mixture of many monochromatic light. During a rain, the steam in the air acts like a prism, which separates sunlight into different wavelengths of light, which is why people see rainbows.

"We often think everything has a specific color. However, the colors we see depend on the reflection of the light of the object and the path of light, " said Stephen Corfidi, a meteorologist. Learn from the American National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), said.